Game Review: Layers of Fear

Hey, you lot! It’s SurpriseEnema (FernGully) with a new game review for you all.
So, this review is covering the newest game from the Bloober Team: Layers of Fear, which was released for Early Access on Steam on August 27, 2015. Now, I’ve covered another game of theirs, Brawl, and yet this game gave me a completely different feeling when I played it. Honestly, I felt kind of uncomfortable the entire time. It was not a bad thing, and I think the game is meant to make you feel that way. However, as most might already know: I tend to stick to games that are light-hearted and colourful, merely because anything dark and terrifying tends to play with my dreams at night. This game did not disappoint in that accomplishment.

uh…

You play as a man who is trying to finish his masterpiece, and to do that he must sacrifice his sanity in the process. The game is inspired by “the masterpiece paintings from past centuries” and really makes the player nervous when playing. You want to find out what the hell is going on, but you might be too afraid to really find out. What is one to do when you want to know the truth, but you can’t find it in yourself to move forward? Fuck if I know, and that’s how I felt the entire time.

The Bloober Team has sort of become my go-to for horror themed games, and I always loved playing games such as Slender and watching horror movies. The game falls in line with this genre quite well but is very much closely related, aesthetically to games like P.T. And that’s the thing, the game reminds me of P.T. a lot. I played this game with Plasma Captain a few months ago on the Playstation 4 console, and I will be honest… I screamed so fucking loud, it was crazy. That’s a good thing (at least to me it is).

huh..

The game is similar to the Silent Hills playable trailer for a lot of reasons: you are playing in first-person perspective, walking around in a house trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Pretty straight-forward. The difference though, and it’s a big difference is that while P.T. could very much be seen as an inspiration to Layers of Fear, it certainly isn’t a carbon copy. The Bloober Team created a massively curious backstory… and I felt like I was on drugs the entire time playing it. If P.T. made me scream… Layers of Fear made me cry and question my sanity. Is that good? That’s for the player to decide.

The problem I have with this game is that it seems to play with the concept of mental illness. If one would describe themselves as a keyboard warrior of sorts, they would probably find offense to this game. It really does play with the concept of insanity. However, I appreciate that personally and as someone with a mental disorder that deals with emotions and anxiety… I didn’t find myself offended or upset in any way. It’s all subjective to how you are supposed to feel about a game such as Layers of Fear. For me, I didn’t find anything truly wrong with it in the sense of being offended… I just was freaked the fuck out the entire time and there is nothing wrong with that.

Did… did I just take shrooms while playing this game?

As for the aesthetics, they’re interesting and dark… something I do not favor most of the time, but it works for this genre. The graphics alone are truly a work of art, and quite beautiful in a haunting way. You’ll be mesmerized by the visual aspects of the game, and that helps you keep going. The lighting sucked for me (not a bad thing). I just like being able to see what I can’t see… and when a room is dark, it makes me want to cry because who knows what could be in the shadows. One thing I did enjoy was the constant evolution of the house. Shit kept changing, to put it bluntly.

NO!… just… no… I can’t do this anymore. *cries in corner with all the lights on in the house*

You’re never allowed to feel truly at ease while playing Layers of Fear. You know you’re supposed to be tense, and you try so hard to not be, but you fail miserably.

This isn’t a game for the faint of heart or really anyone who cannot handle horror games that will possibly make you pee your pants if you scream suddenly. I know I did (should I admit that?).Check out a preview trailer of the game and find it on Steam right now. Also, you can find the Bloober Team on Facebook (make sure to check them out).